Alexei Shirov wins 2021 University of Salamanca Masters
Alexei Shirov came as the winner of the University of Salamanca Masters 2021. The eight-player round-robin with the time control of 40 min + 5 sec was a part of the third edition of the Salamanca Chess Festival running from February 2-6. The Masters brought together eight players from four counties including the last edition winner Eduardo Iturrizaga, FIDE World ex-champion Veselin Topalov, Alexei Shirov, the reigning Spanish Champion David Anton, and four female players. The winner delivered an excellent result 6 out of 7 making just two draws and finished a half-point ahead of Eduardo Iturrizaga and David Anton who tied for second place. Elisabeth Paehtz scored 3 points out of 7 and became the best female player in the event. Final standings: 1. Alexei Shirov (2662) – 6 2. Eduardo Iturrizaga (2607) – 5½ 3. David Anton Guijarro (2679) – 5½ 4. Veselin Topalov (2735) – 3½ 5. Elisabeth Paehtz (2467) – 3 6. Nurgyul Salimova (2397) – 2½ 7. Sabrina Vega Gutierrez (2392) – 1½ 8. Almira Skripchenko (2418) – 1 Official website: www.salamancachessfestival.com Photo: Ajedrez Salamanca
Carlsen wins 4 in a row to set early pace
World Champion recovers from ‘funk’ 24 of 40 games end with a win Round-robin stage resumes tomorrow The Opera Euro Rapid online chess event got off to an explosive start as World Champion Magnus Carlsen won four in a row to end the day out on top. The Norwegian went into the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour tournament on the back of a poor run of form he described as a “funk”. But after an early wobble that stoked fears, he wasn’t out of it, Carlsen roared back to post a quadruple of back-to-back wins. Carlsen said afterward: “I wouldn’t say the funk is over but what I would say is that this was a very enjoyable day of chess and I tried to win every game.” The result, Carlsen said, was “awesome”. He added: “Overall I’m very happy with my play – the spirit I had to always try for the maximum!” After losing to Wesley So in Round 1, Carlsen’s victims were Airthings Masters finalist Levon Aronian, German number 1 Matthias Bluebaum, 2018 US champ Sam Shankland and finally Cuban-American Leinier Dominguez. The champion wasn’t alone in hunting down wins. All 16 stars in action appeared to throw caution to the wind as an impressive 24 of the first 40 round-robin games finished decisively. In fact, the drama kicked off only seconds after the start of play as the Russian Alexander Grischuk made a horrible mouse-slip just four moves in. With the odds stacked against him, Grischuk then went on to save a draw against Anish Giri. The prelim stage taking place now is the first act of the $100,000 Opera Euro Rapid as the players battle it out to make it into the last eight knockout. Carlsen finished Day 1 of the nine-day tournament on 4/5, half a point ahead of Wesley So and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Anish Giri, and Teimour Radjabov are tied for fourth place. Opera is the official browser of the Tour and title partner of the event which carries a $100,000 prize pot. The Meltwater Champions Chess Tour, organized by the Play Magnus Group, is the first full season of top-level online chess events. It comprises nine Regular and Major tournaments culminating in a $300,000 Final which starts in September. All matches are played in a rapid chess format with blitz and “armageddon” tie-breaks if needed. The logo chosen for the event represents Daniil Dubov’s sensational win over World Champion Magnus Carlsen in the last Tour event, the Airthings Masters. For further information, please contact: Leon Watson, PR for Champions Chess Tourleon@chessable.com+44 7786 078 770 About Play Magnus AS The Play Magnus Group is a global leader in the chess industry focused on providing premier digital experiences for millions of chess players and students. The company offers e-learning and entertainment services via its market-leading brands: chess24, Chessable, CoChess, the Play Magnus App Suite, and the Champions Chess Tour. The Group’s mission is to grow chess to make the world a smarter place by encouraging more people to play, watch, study, and earn a living from chess. About Meltwater Meltwater is the title partner of the Tour. Meltwater is a global leading provider of social and media intelligence. By examining millions of posts each day from social media platforms, blogs and news sites, and using patented artificial intelligence systems, Meltwater helps companies make better, more informed decisions based on insight from the outside.
Modifications to Transfer Regulations
During the last General Congress, some important changes were introduced to the Transfer Regulations and Rules of Eligibility for Players, which apply to all those who are in the process of changing federations. These changes are effective from December 01, 2020, which means they are applied retrospectively. The first main change is that the notification fee, paid for every transfer, is reduced fivefold, from 250€ to 50€. No notification fee is required for FIDE flag players who have never been registered with a National Federation. Second, some changes have been introduced to speed up the process and reduce the time a player has to wait to represent his/her new federation in an official FIDE event and became eligible for a fee-exempted transfer. Under the previous regulations, a player should wait for two years after initiating the transfer. Now, this 2-year period starts counting from the moment the player has competed in his/her last official FIDE event representing his previous federation, regardless of when he initiates the transfer. This modification can effectively shorten the duration of the transition period and allow the player to represent his new country much earlier. A transfer is considered to be completed when either the old Federation has written a letter of non-objection or 90 days have passed since the old Federation was informed.
First FIDE World University Online Championships announced
The International Chess Federation is pleased to announce the First FIDE World University Online Chess Championships. The event is open to students born in 1995 or later, who have their secondary education completed, and are currently officially registered as proceeding towards a degree or diploma at a university. The championships will be organized by the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (www.utrgv.edu) and will consist of four different competitions that will take place over three consecutive weekends: FIDE World University Individual Online Blitz Championship (13-14 March) FIDE World University Individual Online Rapid Championship (20-21 March) FIDE World University Team Online Rapid Cup (27 March) FIDE World University Team Online Blitz Cup (28 March) Please note that the championships will be played on two different platforms: the individual events will take place on Tornelo, while the team events will be hosted by Chess24. Players who are banned by the hosting internet platform are not eligible to take part in the tournament. FIDE World University Individual Online Blitz Championship (March 13-14, Tornelo) The Individual Blitz Championship will be a 20-round Swiss tournament, with a time control of 3+2. Students from the same university shall not be paired against each other. The winner will be announced the World University Online Blitz Champion 2021, and the highest placed woman will be announced as the World University Online Blitz Women’s Champion 2021. During the registration (see Article 2.A.9 of the regulations), each university can designate up to seven students to form a team that represents it. The top four team members’ scores, (including at least one man’s score and one woman’s score) will count for the team standings that will be used as a qualifier for the FIDE World University Team Online Blitz Cup. The registration deadline is March 5, 2021 (11:59 UTC), and there is no entry fee. However, bear in mind that there is a limit of 1000 participants for this championship, by order of registration. Registration link: https://worlduniversity.fide.com/registration_blitz.phtml Schedule:FIDE World University Individual Online Rapid Championship (March 20-21, Tornelo) The Individual Rapid Championship will be a 12-round Swiss tournament, with a time control of 10+5. Again, students from the same university shall not be paired against each other, and the individual results of the top performers from each university will be used as a qualifier for the World University Team Rapid Cup. Likewise, the event will be played on Tornelo, with a limit of 1000 participants, and March 5 as a deadline (11:59 UTC). Registration link: https://worlduniversity.fide.com/registration_rapid.phtml Schedule:FIDE World University Team Online Rapid Cup (March 27, Chess24) The four best teams according to the final team’s standings of the World University Individual Online Rapid Championship will qualify for the Team Online Rapid Cup. This competition will be played as Knockout duels of two matches each, with each match played on four boards, with a time control of 10+5. The playing schedule of each duel will be decided taking into consideration the time zones of the qualified teams, and it will be announced by March 23. The winning team will be announced the World University Team Online Rapid Cup Winner 2021 and will be awarded a trophy. FIDE World University Team Online Blitz Cup (March 28, Chess24) The blitz competition will follow a similar format to the rapid, with four teams playing a knockout. The only differences are obviously the time control, which in this case will be 3+2, and the fact that the duels will consist of four matches between the teams, instead of two. The Tournament Director will be GM Bartlomiej Macieja, with GM Aleksander Mista as his deputy, and IA Tomasz Delega as Chief Arbiter. Technical meetings are scheduled for March 7 (individual championships) and March 26 (teams championships). For more information, please check the complete regulations. About the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Chess Program The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) won the last two US National Collegiate Chess Championships (Final Four Tournaments), in 2018 and 2019. Both years, the UTRGV was named “The Chess College of the Year” by the US Chess Federation. In recognition of the success, the team was invited to the Texas Capitol in Austin, and honored by the State Governor, Senate, and the House of Representatives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6FvTj9rsnUIn January 2021, the UTRGV played an intercontinental match vs. the current university champions of Russia. The UTRGV won that Clash of University Champions 13.5 vs. 10.5, proving it belongs to the very elite of world university chess. More information: https://www.utrgv.edu/chess https://www.facebook.com/UTRGVChessTeam
FIDE Trainer Awards for 2020-2021
The International Chess Federation, together with the FIDE Trainers’ Commission (TRG), is pleased to announce the 14th FIDE Trainer Awards for 2020 & 2021, which will recognize and celebrate the outstanding achievements of the chess training community. Achievements in 2019 and 2020 will be the basis of the trainers award while for books it will be those published in 2020. The categories have now been expanded to 10 so that every licensed trainer now has the opportunity to win an award and be recognized by their peers. Trainers Mikhail Botvinnik Award for the best achievement by trainer(s) in Open Section competitionsVakhtang Karseladze Award for the best achievement by trainer(s) in women’s and/or girl’s competitionsMark Dvoretsky Award for the best achievement by trainer(s) in junior competitionsSamuel Reshevsky for the best achievement by a junior prodigy (U-14) in competitionsYuri Razuvaev Award for special contribution to grassroots education, and social impactTigran Petrosian Award for special contribution to trainer education Vasily Smyslov for the best academy or chess school, to be voted on by the current FIDE endorsed academiesLiu Wenzhe to recognize the first coach, as endorsed by one or more leading chess playersOnline chess training, for delivery or innovation in online chess training Book Authors · Yuri Averbakh/Isaac Boleslavsky Award for best book FIDE and the Trainers’ Commission invites nominations for the awards, under the following regulations: Trainer Nominations 1. The awards must be for achievement in the years of the award 2019 and 2020 2. Achievements from before the licensed period initiated are not eligible. 3. Nominations can be made by FIDE Council members, FIDE Continental & Affiliated Organisations, National Chess Federations, TRG Commission members, Principals of FIDE Endorsed Academies, FIDE Senior Trainers and past winners. 4. No nominator can nominate the same nominee in more than one category. 5. Special nomination forms for each award will be prepared to ensure all pertinent information is provided. 6. All nominations must be sent to the TRG Secretary by 30th April. The Secretary will acknowledge receipt, compile and forward them to the TRG Awards Nomination Judges, as well as announce the list of nominations in May to ensure transparency. 7. There will be a panel of seven judges to be appointed by TRG in consultation with the FIDE Managing Board. 8. At least two judges will be women and all four continents will be represented. 9. The nomination and judging process will be subject to verification by a representative appointed by the FIDE Management Board. Book Nominations 1. For the Yuri Averbakh/Isaac Boleslavsky Award, book publishers may make up to three nominations each. TRG will invite leading publishers to nominate a maximum of three books. One nominee from each publisher can be exempt from the requirement of a FIDE training license. Other publishers are welcome to request permission to submit and in most cases, we will approve. 2. National Federations can also nominate one book by a licensed trainer. 3. A copy of nominated books has to be sent to TRG according to instructions by a given date in April. 4. This Award will be judged by a panel comprising three experts selected by TRG in consultation with the FIDE Management Board. The judges have the right to reject a nomination. 5. The nominations will be announced after the 31st March deadline, a shortlist will be announced by the 1st of July and the winner decided by public vote to be determined by the 21st of July. All nominations are to be sent to trainers@fide.com and the forms can be downloaded as follows: Trainers Nominations: https://www.dropbox.com/s/e11fq1nsobt3wtl/Nomination%20Form.xlsx?dl=0 Books nominations: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s4qo7rzhz4lh3di/Books%20Nomination%20Form.xlsx?dl=0
Bangladesh returns to over-the-board chess
Many live chess events were canceled last year all around the world, including the Youth Word Championship 2020 that was supposed to take place in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka. In January of 2021, the Bangladesh Chess Federation adopted a plan to organize over-the-board chess competitions in compliance with the health rules of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. To this end, the Mujib Year Invitational International Rating Chess tournament was held from 9 to 16 January 2021 under the auspices of Abul Khair Group. The list of participants included 44 invited players (one Grand Master, three International Masters, and one Woman International Master). The competition was inaugurated on January 9 by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Md. Shafiqul Islam, as the chief guest. Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim, General Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation and President of FIDE Zone 3.2 spoke on the occasion presided over by K. M. Shahidullah, the Vice President of Bangladesh Chess Federation. GM Ziaur Rahman scored 7½ points out of 9 and came out on top in a 9-round Swiss-League event. Anata Choudhury was a runner-up with 7 points and FM Mehdi Hasan Parag finished third with 6½. Among the women, Rani Hamid netted 4½ points became the best female player. Ahmed Walija, Nazrana Khan Eva, Kazi Jarin Tasnim, and Noshin Anjum received special women’s awards. The awarding ceremony was held at the Utsab Hall, Ground Floor, Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden, a five-star hotel in Dhaka city. Mr. Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel, MP, Honorable State Minister, Ministry of Youth & Sports, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was present as the Chief Guest and presented the prizes to the winners. Mr. K. M. Shahidullah, the Vice President of the Bangladesh Chess Federation presided over the ceremony. The winners of the competition were awarded a total of four thousand three hundred US dollars. Following the Invitational International Rating Chess, the Mujib Borso Marcel 2nd Division Chess League 2021 was held from January 20-28, 2021 under the auspices of the Bangladesh Chess Federation and sponsored by Walton Group. The 9-round Swiss event brought together a record number of 42 teams. Shahnoor Khan Smiriti Sangsad scored 16 points and clinched the title. A runner-up, Sports Bangla finished one point behind. Grassroots Sports Academy tied for third with BD Chess in School with the former taking bronze thanks to better tiebreaks. The closing ceremony was held on January 30, 2021, in the Bangladesh Chess Federation hall-room. F.M. Iqbal Bin Anowar (Dawn), Executive Director and Head of Games & Welfare of WALTON Group awarded the prizes as a chief guest. IO Syed Shahab Uddin Shamim, General Secretary of Bangladesh Chess Federation and President, FIDE Zone 3.2 was present as a special guest. K. M. Shahidullah, the Vice President of the Bangladesh Chess Federation presided over the ceremony. Bangladesh Chess Federation is determined to continue on the course of running over-the-board chess events. The next on the list is the WALTON 1st Division Chess League 2021 scheduled to be held from February 25 to March 7, 2021. Text and photo: Md Haroon Or Rashid, International Arbiter
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Chess podcasts on the rise
Twitch is stealing all the headlines lately, and no wonder why. Nakamura is very close to hitting one million followers, and this weekend a new record was broken when the platform reached 356 content creators streaming chess at the same time. Meanwhile, on YouTube, Agadmator is also very close to reaching 1 million subscribers, while Levy Rozman surpassed 500k a few days ago and his channel keeps growing at incredible speed. Such a phenomenon very much overshadows everything else, but the fact is that chess podcasts are also on the rise! For the old-timers who might be reading this, a podcast is an audio program, just like traditional radio, but you subscribe to it on your smartphone or tablet, and you listen to it whenever it suits you. Very much as it happens with everything else nowadays, you don’t have to follow a schedule fixed by somebody else to enjoy a show: new episodes are automatically downloaded into your device and you can enjoy them while commuting to work in the morning – even if you are offline. That way, you can keep enjoying chess even while you drive, jog, or do the dishes. There are multiple apps you can use to subscribe, download, and organize your favorite podcasts. The pioneers when it comes to chess podcasts were Macauley Peterson, Lawrence Trent, and Stephen Gordon, who started “The Full English Breakfast” (FEB) on February 25, 2009. Later on, Simon Williams joined from episode 32. The show went on for 52 episodes and almost 8 years – but sometimes they could go for an entire year without releasing an episode. What FEB had in quality and originality, it lacked in regularity. There are even rumors now that The Full English Breakfast could make a comeback after a 2-year hiatus. More or less at the time, FEB was fading away, “The Perpetual Chess” made an appearance. This is the personal project of Ben Johnson, from Princeton, New Jersey. “I launched the Perpetual Chess Podcast in December of 2016, in order to help address what I saw as a shortage of quality chess podcasts. I am a huge fan of the podcast medium, and I love chess”, explains Ben. “The lack of audio-only chess content frustrated me and made it hard for me, as a busy working parent, to consume chess content.” After 211 episodes, “The Perpetual Chess” has been downloaded/streamed over 1,500,000 times in over 100 different countries, and it is now sponsored by Chessable. Thanks to this support, Ben has been able to expand his project, launching an additional monthly podcast devoted to chess books. The list of chess personalities who have been interviewed during these four years is nothing short of impressive. US Chess also produces, not one, but multiple chess podcasts. John Hartmann, the editor of Chess Life magazine, hosts a monthly podcast title “Cover Stories with Chess Life”, where he goes in-depth and behind the scenes of each month’s Chess Life cover story. Pete Karagianis, the US Chess Assistant Director of Events, runs the podcast “Chess Underground”, a miscellaneous show that explores eccentricities, peculiarities, and theoretical novelties. Dan Lucas, the Senior Director of Strategic Communication, talks to people who are advancing the US Chess mission statement to “Empower people, enrich lives, and enhance communities through chess” through his podcast “One Move at a Time”. Finally, the ubiquitous Jennifer Shahade hosts the podcast “Ladies Knight”, a monthly podcast featuring female chess champions and leaders. The podcast debuted in January 2019 with popular chess streamer Alexandra Botez as a guest. All these podcasts are well consolidated, having reached between 25 and 30 episodes each. “The Chess Pit” yesterday celebrated its first year of life. Hosted by Jon Mackenzie, Phil Makepeace, and Chris Russell, this is a weekly podcast, so it has already reached 53 episodes. Last September, Dutch chess writer and photographer Eric van Reem also launched the Podcast “Let’s Talk About Chess”. Despite being the newest, it is gaining popularity very quickly, thanks to his interesting interviews with top chess personalities.
Jorden Van Foreest wins Tata Steel 2021
Jorden Van Forest won his home tournament Tata Steel 2021 after beating his countryman Anish Giri in Armageddon and became the first Dutchman to claim the title in Wijk aan Zee since Jan Timman in 1985. In the final round, Anish Giri made a hard-fought draw David Anton but gave a chance to three players to catch up with him. Only Jorden Van Foreest was up to the challenge, whereas Fabiano Caruana and Alireza Firouzja had to settle for draws. David Anton put the leader to a serious test and made him work hard for a draw. The Spaniard opted for a seemingly innocuous but very solid line against Najdorf variation of the Sicilian and after 19.a5, fixing Black’s pawns on the queen-side he got a long-lasting advantage. Anish put up a stubborn and patient defense and scored a half-point that guaranteed him at least a tie for first place. Out of three chasers, only Jorden Van Foreest managed to earn a victory over Nils Grandelius and catch up with Giri. The Dutchman went for a rare line in Najdorf Variation prepared at home, sacrificed a pawn, and got a fresh and complicated position with sufficient compensation. Nils was defending well in a maze of complications up to some point, but Jorden came up with a temporary piece sacrifice (21.Nb5!) and took control over the proceedings. In the end, White’s king made a long trip to h6 to force the capitulation of Black’s monarch. Alireza Firouzja had a great chance to tie for first place with two Dutch players but it was not meant to be (although even in case of a victory he would not get into a tiebreak due to inferior Sonneborn–Berger). Alireza and Radoslaw Wojtaszek started improvising in a new position very early with White’s eventually grabbing the initiative in the middlegame. Alireza correctly sacrificed an exchange but opted for the wrong move order and let Black stay in the game although in an inferior position. After some long maneuvering, Firouzja finally saw Wojtaszek’s error but failed to capitalize on it. The opponents shook hands in an equal position on move 63. Fabiano Caruana sought complications on the black side of French Defense against Arian Tari, but it was really hard to do in the Exchange Variation the Norwegian opted for. Fabiano eventually got a slight edge, but it has never been big enough, and a draw came as a logical outcome. Andrey Esipenko gradually equalized with Black against Alexander Donchenko but probably expected nothing more than a half-point but being short of time his opponent faltered with 27.e5? and then simply gave up a pawn. The Russian handily converted his advantage and finished along with Firouzja and Caruana – a great debut by the Russian teenager. Magnus Carsen completed his Wijk-an-Zee campaign on a high note by overcoming Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman suffered another defeat in one of his trademark openings, the Gruenfeld Defense. Black was doing OK untill 18…Rce8 which seems to be a serious mistake. Magnus won an exchange and finished off his opponent with great panache. Pentala Harikrishna and Jan-Krzysztof Duda played a long theoretical line in Anti-Meran that is deemed as fine for Black. This long game did not overturn the verdict regarding this line. Anish Giri and Jorden Van Foreest scored an equal amount of points and squared off in a tiebreak to determine the winner. In the first game that was drawn, Anish missed a great chance for a win, after overlooking 26…g3 with the idea of infiltrating with his rooks into the second rank. In the second encounter Giri emerged up a pawn but Van Foreest held a draw in a rook endgame. It came down to Armageddon in which the younger of the two Dutchmen won the toss and chose black pieces. White got an overwhelming position by move 22 but spoiled everything with 26.c6?? Black emerged with an extra pawn in a drawn ending with opposite-colored bishops but the miracles did not end there. Jorden simply blundered his bishop but Anish just forgot about Black’s passer and resigned facing its imminent queening. “He [Anish] played the better chess, I played faster chess in the end. Blitz is basically a coinflip. Anish played a great tournament and really deserved to win it. He could have won both games I think, but that is how it goes… I am on the top of the world, I can’t feel any better” the happy winner said, who hit a 2700 rating mark for the first time in his career. Final standings: 1. Jorden Van Foreest – 8½2. Anish Giri – 8½3. Andrey Esipenko – 84. Fabiano Caruana – 85. Alireza Firouzja – 86. Magnus Carlsen – 7½7. Pentala Harikrishna – 6½8. Arian Tari – 6 9. Nils Grandelius – 610. Jan-Krzysztof Duda – 5½11. David Anton – 512. Radoslaw Wojtaszek – 513. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 514. Alexander Donchenko – 3½ Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021 Official website: tatasteelchess.com/
Tata Steel 2021: Giri leads going into the final round
In the most important and dramatic game of the penultimate round, Alireza Firouzja miraculously escaped to a draw against the leader Anish Giri and stayed in the race for first place. He is coming into the final round tied for the second position with Fabiano Caruana and Jorden Van Foreest a half-point behind the leader. Pentala Harikrishna scored his second victory in the event over Alexander Donchenko who made a fatal misstep in an equal position. All other games were drawn. In the central game of the round, Anish Giri and Alireza Firouzja had a discussion in the French Defense. The teenager introduced a novelty on move 14, then sacrificed a pawn and eventually get a satisfactory position but 28…d3 turned out to be a serious mistake (28…f6 was much better). Anish reeled off several precise moves and was on the way to the victory not only in this game but most likely also in the tournament, but that is where miracles began. The Dutchman missed a few winning continuations and had to give up his bishop for Black’s e-pawn. White still had four pawns for a knight and won position but again the Dutchman did not demonstrate necessary accuracy and allowed Firouzja to save a half-point. Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Magnus Carlsen played a very solid positional game in the Anti-Meran variation of the Slave Defense maintaining a balance to the very end. Fabiano Caruana was full of determination to score a full point with White and even sacrificed a knight, but his opponent David Anton had no desire to cooperate. The Spaniard was confidently holding his ground and did not allow last year’s winner to make any progress. The opponents split a point on move 50 in an equal endgame. Andrey Esipenko and Jorden Van Foreest played a very interesting game in the Modern Veresov in which a slight advantage moved from one opponent to another, but it all ended in a draw by perpetual on move 41. The evaluation in the game between Pentala Harikrishna and Alexander Donchenko was hovering about equal for a very long time, but right after the time control, the German played a natural 42…Qf6? apparently missing crushing 43.c5! White’s heavy pieces pounced and the black king and Alexander resigned facing an inevitable checkmate. Nils Grandelius and Arian Tari tested waters in a sharp line of the Italian. Black sacrificed a piece to expose the white king but probably did not get sufficient compensation. White consolidated his position and got better prospects but after Nils greedily grabbed a pawn 27.Qxb7 Black immediately forced a draw by repetition. Jan-Krzysztof Duda outplayed Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in a roughly equal endgame that emerged from Petroff Defense, but went astray with 32…Nb8 (32…Rb5 was necessary) and let the opponent off the hook. The only thing the Pole managed to achieve in subsequent long play was stalemating the white king. Standings after Round 11: 1. Anish Giri – 8; 2-4. Alireza Firouzja, Fabiano Caruana, Jorden Van Foreest – 7½; 5. Andrey Esipenko – 7; 6. Magnus Carlsen – 6½; 7-8. Nils Grandelius, Pentala Harikrishna – 6; 9. Arian Tari – 5½; 10-11. Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 5; 12-13. Radoslaw Wojtaszek, David Anton – 4½; 14. Alexander Donchenko – 3½. Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021 Official website: tatasteelchess.com/